I. Aegon smiles at her as he makes the cut in her hand. We should marry in the tradition of our house, he had said, before you are married to Aemond. Marry me. She could not find it to refuse him, so she had agreed. It wouldn't matter. She may marry Aegon in this moment, but she will share her life with Aemond. 

She will share her womb with him. Carry his children, hold his hand, and kiss his mouth. She will make him a king and he will protect her throne. They will further the Targaryen line together. Rhaelys will be Aemond's. 

But for this moment, she is Aegon's.

Mayhaps a part of her will always be Aegon's.

"Should we say it here, under the weirwood?" The sun had long gone down, but the moon sone particularly bright that night. "Yes, we should. In honour of the old gods." She knelt before him, her eyes never waning from his.

I am his, Rhaelys spoke in Valyrian. I am hers, Aegon says at the same time. 

And she is mine, Aegon smiled at her. And he is mine, Rhaelys smiled at him as well.

From this day, to the end of my days, both said, at the same time. 

He then made a cut on her lip and she one of his, and they kissed. Of course, Rhaelys had kissed Aegon before, but never like this. He had never kissed her like he wanted to kiss her. Like he had actually desired her.

"Shall we spend our night together, jorrāelagon, or will you save yourself for my brother?" He said, pulling away from her. She smiled at him and kissed him further. "For all the times I've wished I was born a boy, I am not now. For else I would never know this pleasure."

They stop. Aegon as his hands around her waist and looks in her eyes. The blood of their lips is all over. He takes her hand and looks at the cut. It is still bleeding, and though it is part of the ceremony, Aegon does not want Rhaelys to be hurt. He rips off a piece of his shirt and ties it around her hand. "There, my love," He says, and kisses her hand.

That night, they were only each other's, just the two of them. The next morrow, by the Seven, Aegon would belong to Helaena and Helaena to him. But just for tonight, he belonged to Rhaelys. And perhaps he always would.

(Elsewhere, in the dragonpit, Vermithor and Sunfyre were sleeping right next to each other, with their wings interlocking.)

II. Rhaelys Velaryon is a not a son.

The same way Rhaenyra Targaryen was not a son.

The same way Laena Velaryon was not a son.

That is the cold, hard, truth. She is Rhaenyra Targaryen's daughter. She is Laenor Velaryon's daughter. And it will never be enough, because she is not a son. That is her failure.

Aegon is a son, but he is not Rhaenyra. That is his failure.

The son of Alicent Hightower and the daughter of Rhaenyra Targaryen had been interwoven since the first moment they met each other.

Rhaelys had been born a winter's day, while Aegon had been born just at the end of summer. They were polar opposites, and yet they fit with each other perfectly. All that Aegon lacked, Rhaelys had. And in turn, all that Rhaelys lacked, Aegon had. They had the blood of the dragon, which ran thick through their veins.

Rhaelys was not a soft-spoken, simpleminded girl. Life would have been so much easier if she had been. Rhaelys had to train, Rhaelys had to get what she wanted, Rhaelys had to fight back. With Rhaelys, there was no simple day. Though that was not fault of her own. She had been raised with everything handed to her, so of course she would expect everything to be handed to her.

Rhaelys Velaryon would wed twice: once for duty, for her to the realm, for the sake of her heirs, for the sake of her mother. And once for love, for the desires she had, for the comfort she sought.

Rhaelys would not do to her children what her mother had done to her brothers. She would only bear children which would be perceived as legitimate, for she wished on no child what Jace, Luke and Joff had to endure.

Rhaelys should have been a son. 

Rhaelys should have been a son.

She's realised since a young age that the realm could stomach one queen (her mother, Rhaenyra) but would never be able to stomach another one right after. Half the realm wished for her womb to be barren and her brother to succeed her, and the other half wished for her womb for their sons and grandsons.

Rhaelys knows that she can do only wrong in the eyes of many men. They think she is a meek little princess, and they say things that a meek princess can hear. They say things that Rhaelys can use to her advantage, to further secure her own claim to the Iron Throne.

Rhaelys Velaryon is not a son. No, she is something far more dangerous. She is a weapon.

III. This is different, she supposes. This is a ceremony in the style of the Andals, after all. Not like the Valyrian ceremony she and Aegon had done in secret, with nobody there but their dragons. They stand in the grand sept, with the High Septon and Aemond standing directly in front of her.

In a cruel twist of fate, it is Aegon who walks her down the aisle. Her father is dead and her grandsire is too sickly to even walk this short amount. So Aegon, as her uncle and soon to be brother-in-law, had dutifully stepped up to hand her over to Aemond.

"You don't have to do this, you know," He had whispered in her ear. "We can run away," He was already married to Helaena, of course, so that wouldn't work. The twins had been born. Even if Aegon would, Rhaelys would never allow him to abandon his sister and his children.

They just kept walking, with Aegon keeping his facade perfectly fine. The cloak clad around her was one with the sigil of House Velaryon, a light blue seahorse atop her back. This was her house, she reminded herself, no matter her last name or who she married. (No matter who her father is.)

She is a Velaryon.

Aegon takes the cloak from her shoulders, and kisses her once on both of her cheeks. The protection of her 'father' has been lifted, and now she is cloaked with the protection of her husband. Aemond has a wide grin on his face, and put the cloak around her, with a gentle hand.

The sigil of House Targaryen, a three headed-dragon, is the centre piece. But around it, there are seahorses. Rhaelys smiles at her husband, who she thinks had had this fashioned for her.

Freya Allan is
RHAELYS VELARYON

Born 110 AC to Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon

Leo Hart & Harry Collett are
JACAERYS VELARYON

Born 112 AC to Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon

Harvey Sadler & Elliot Grihault are
LUCERYS VELARYON

Born 114 AC to Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon

Billie Gadson is
DAERA VELARYON

Born 123 AC to Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon

Liv Hill is
MARIELLE BARATHEON

Born 109 AC to Borros Baratheon and Marya Hightower

Ty Tennant & Tom Glynn-Carney are
AEGON TARGARYEN

Born 107 AC to Viserys Targaryen and Alicent Hightower

Evie Allan & Phia Saban are
HELAENA TARGARYEN

Born 109 AC to Viserys Targaryen and Alicent Hightower

Leo and Ewan Mitchell are
AEMOND TARGARYEN

Born 110 AC to Viserys Targaryen and Alicent Hightower

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

this fic is not meant to romanticize incest. i do not condone nor support it. rhaelys is a character that is very intriguing to me and i wrote her at the height of house of the dragon, when incest was all the rage. i'm a minor and i just did what seemed like it could be populair. if i wrote her now, i'd have her be with cregan or some oc. but she's not. please don't think that i support incest cause of a silly fic i write.

rhaelys' 'love' for aegon comes from her desire to be like him: from her desire to be a son. this is rhaelys' story, and it's not just a romance. it's not a romance at all. rhaelys is 13(!!) in act one and believes herself in love with her uncle, yes, but she's just a child who wanted to be valued.